Excised bits from April 22, 2007 Los Angeles Times story by Charles McNulty:
"...
Many of the plays that have stayed with me in the last year were produced at postage-stamp-sized venues and filled with people who looked like they actually wanted to be there … The local groups responsible for these experiences … might not be able to ensure that their dramatists earn a living wage. But they nonetheless provide them with lifeblood: an engaged audience.
I don't typically have a cranky reaction to plays that stumble if there's a sense that the writer is honestly grappling with something. What the culturally hungry are after isn't perfection but truth. What makes me dyspeptic is when I feel as though I'm being sold a bill of goods.
Patronage of adventurous programming is the only answer to skittish, market-centered
leadership.
..."
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6 comments:
Picking "Rabbit Hole" does seem a little disappointing.
This is "Dinner with Friends" with a death in the family.
A good play?
Sure.
Anything new or innovative to add, say, show us?
Not really.
This is an excellent, albeit short, article. I find it interesting how many of the "unknown" playwrights on the authors list have been produced here in town in the last few years.
I also love that while listing the farces that made Abaire famous, the author misses my favorite one. Those who know me know which one that is.
His last thought reminds me of an Albee quote that I often think of when seeing shows. "The smaller the theater, the better the play"
And yes, you can take this as a direct rebuke of the person in the Fences thread who is trying to equate a sense of taste or asthetic to how many Broadway shows someone has seen in the last year. If that person really has seen 14, they need a horizon expansion in a hurry. If I was in NY with enough time to see that many shows, I promise, very few of them would have been on Broadway.
Tom
Speaking of adventurous programming, will there be a review of Repeat After Me or something about the TBA lineup for this year? Come on now!
"Repeat after me" is hopefully forthcoming.
For info on TBA, go to www.pica.org. (And if anyone from TBA is reading ... are press comps available for a blogger?)
This was a comment submitted in the "Fences" post in response to our Broadway-phile friend, but I think this is a better thread for the topic ...
Here's what that anonymous poster wrote:
I lived in NYC for over 20 years I have seen more shows on B'way than I can remember...and I can tell you that the BEST theatre experiences I have ever had are nearly always in small little spaces that no one has heard of with actors you've never seen and nobody makes a dime...maybe that's why it's so good? Because all they got fueling them is a passion and a need...I don't know. Point is implying that b/c you see B'way shows means you somehow Know more about theatre is actaully the quickest way to show us that your opinion can be relegated to the circular file. That means you have more money that alot of folks not more sense.
More on the unorthodox "Rabbit Hole" selection:
http://www.calendarlive.com/stage/cl-et-drama18apr18,0,5761134.story?coll=cl-stage-top-right
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